Monthly Archives: November 2013

On behalf of the Strategic Planning Committee, I am attaching a draft of the template for Essential Initiative II – Establish an Engaged Living and Learning Community. Once again, we ask that you review this draft and offer feedback that can inform our revisions. The feedback from the first Initiative was very helpful, especially in the development of metrics and benchmarks. In case you missed it, the draft template for Essential Initiative-I was attached to the Council’s communication of 11/8/13. We expect that as revisions develop and feedback is received, it may be helpful for council members to have discussions with faculty and staff that will have direct involvement in certain objectives and action items. Keep in mind that such discussions will play a significant role during the next phase of implementation.

The council is committed to accurately reflecting the goals outlined in the plan and being more strategic than tactical in the development of the template. However, it is at times necessary to be somewhat tactical, specifically in regards to “action items” and “metrics.” This is where community feedback is extremely helpful. It is our hope to have Essential Initiatives III and IV ready for your review in the next couple of weeks.

Please be reminded that the Council is interested in hearing from departments across campus about action items that support the strategic plan initiatives. These can be highlighted on our website at http://strategicplanning.newpaltz.edu and act as a resource for all. Thank you for your involvement and we wish you all a healthy and restful holiday.

We recognize that many of you will be taking off the day after Thanksgiving, Friday, November 29, 2013, and that this will impact staffing in your departments. The College will be on a reduced schedule to achieve energy and other related savings, and therefore those that will be working may be assigned to an alternative work location.

As a state agency, the College must remain open. This is because state agencies are not allowed to close without the governor’s approval. However, during the holiday season some offices will close for a brief period of time because staff have opted to use their accruals. Students, staff and visitors will expect our offices to be open and we want to make them aware BEFORE they come to campus that an office is closed.

If your office is closing, or alternate assignments for staff is needed please follow these steps:

Each department head (or his/her designee) must report to their VP or Dean for approval in the decision to close their office as well as to discuss alternate assignments for staff if necessary.

On behalf of the Strategic Planning Council, I am attaching a draft of the template for Essential Initiative I – Nurture Innovation and the Learning Environment. As I wrote to you in my October 18 update, the Strategic Planning Council’s goal is to maximize community engagement with actions and initiatives directly relevant to the plan’s eight Essential Initiatives. The attached template is based on ideas generated during the year-long strategic planning process. When complete, it will hopefully act as a guide for departments and offices as they prepare their strategic/assessment plans and budget allocation requests. We look forward to feedback, specifically in regard to how well the template reflects the ideas and objectives put forth in the Strategic Plan, and additional ideas for metrics and/or benchmarks. Your comments can be sent to strategicplan@newpaltz.edu.

In two weeks, after review of the community feedback, the Strategic Planning Council will send the draft of Essential Initiative-1 to the President and his Cabinet for their consideration and comments. We’ve been focusing our efforts to date on this initiative – Nurture Innovation and the Learning Environment — because it is core to our institutional mission and values. After sending this to the Cabinet, the Council will send a draft of Essential Initiative-2 (and possibly Essential Initiative-3) out to the community for feedback. It is our intention to complete the template by the end of the semester.

The Council is also interested in hearing from units across the campus about action items within their own strategic/assessment plans that support the College’s strategic plan and that we can highlight on the Strategic Planning website at http://strategicplanning.newpaltz.edu. Please submit a brief write-up of these activities and the strategic plan initiative(s) they support to strategicplan@newpaltz.edu. The Council will feature activities consistent with the plan on the website. We hope that these varied activities across the campus will also serve as a resource for departments and offices as they prepare their plans and budget allocation requests. Thank you for your assistance and we look forward to working together in implementing the Strategic Plan in an effective and efficient manner.Ray Schwarz
Chair, Strategic Planning Council